A warm welcome, Stephenw!   

Plenty of kindness round here sw!  Well done on coming out of guest-world and into membersville.

Tommo

And welcome from me too, Stephenw. As an estalished lurker you'll be pretty familiar with any sometimes weird but often wonderful behaviour among the residents here! Enjoy the trip

And another welcome, Stephenw: I'm sure you have a pretty good idea what to expect already, but there's a useful guide to many respondents here.

 Hello, again, Stephenw.      Your diverse interests and Manchester base can be well-aired on these MBs.

My first reference must be a nodding gesture to the postings of fellow Mancunian, Smittims, an assiduous poster on these boards and, particularly at TOP, over several years.   There was a sudden lapse into silence, last autumn, which resulted in several MB enquiries, to no avail.   He is, of course, entitled to privacy but he is much missed.   Smittims had an encyclopaedic knowledge on matters musical; local activities; and an instant recall re recordings over many years.   Some lively spats, too, with those who disagreed.     I suggest that you go to the Members heading and sample the range of his postings.

My work as an actor, took me to Oldham Coliseum in 1967, followed by a lengthy season in central Manchester in 1969, including TV stints at Granada TV.   The Library Theatre, St Peter's Sq and the Stable Theatre, sponsored nearby by Granada TV, were regular calling locations for me; and Theatre 69, later the Royal Exchange, made the city a lively centre, apart from the musical life.

Surprisingly, the lingering memory from that time was a quite sensational concert, not at the Free Trade Hall, but a Sunday evening gig by Frank Zappa at the Palace Theatre.   A brilliant, mesmeric musician, he enthralled the audience - this was an age of psychedelics and flared trousers! - in concentrated listening.   I thought that it heralded a new age in music but, alas, it all went pear shaped in the next few years.

I've visited the Lowry Centre, Salford, in recent years and keep promising friends at Thameside that I'll turn up for a concert at Bridgewater Hall but they insist on being present at my first visit.